The phone-hacking trial in London has been told the now defunct tabloid News Of The World sanctioned the illegal practice "on an industrial scale".

The newspaper's former Royal correspondent Clive Goodman, who is a defendant in the case, also implicated his former boss, Andy Coulson.

Goodman answered "yes", when asked if the tabloid's then-editor Coulson knew that a detective employed by the paper was hacking phones.

Coulson is pleading not guilty to conspiracy to intercept voicemails and is yet to take to the witness box.

Goodman has previously been jailed for hacking the phones of senior aides to the Royal family and is now facing charges of bribing public officials.

He said he was unfairly dismissed from the tabloid after his conviction because the company had sanctioned phone hacking.

He made the allegation when asked why he had not raised the issue of bullying at the News of the World when he appealed against his dismissal.

"That wasn't the grounds on which I was complaining about unfair dismissal," Goodman told the court.

"The company had sanctioned phone-hacking on an industrial scale and they had dealt with me unfairly compared to other people."

After his imprisonment, News Corporation's British newspaper arm News International stated publicly and in parliament that phone hacking was limited to Goodman, who they described as a rogue reporter, and a private detective, Glenn Mulcaire, who worked for the paper and was also jailed.

However four journalists, including three senior editorial executives, have now admitted phone-hacking offences since a new police inquiry was launched in 2011.

This ultimately led to the closure of the 168-year-old tabloid and sent ructions through Britain's establishment.